1. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Nearly two thousand years ago, the greatest city of the ancient New World flourished and fell in the Central Valley of Mexico. The city featured two massive pyramids, a magnificent boulevard lined with temples and mansions, and the first apartment buildings in the Americas. Their people also practiced human sacrifice, and their brutal military conquered cultures throughout Mesoamerica.

2. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Nearly two thousand years ago, the greatest city of the ancient New World flourished and fell in the Central Valley of Mexico. The city featured two massive pyramids, a magnificent boulevard lined with temples and mansions, and the first apartment buildings in the Americas. Their people also practiced human sacrifice, and their brutal military conquered cultures throughout Mesoamerica.

3. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Nearly two thousand years ago, the greatest city of the ancient New World flourished and fell in the Central Valley of Mexico. The city featured two massive pyramids, a magnificent boulevard lined with temples and mansions, and the first apartment buildings in the Americas. Their people also practiced human sacrifice, and their brutal military conquered cultures throughout Mesoamerica.

4. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
We don’t know what these people called themselves; we call the city Teotihuacan a term the Aztecs used when they occupied the site centuries later.

5. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
People first settled along the banks of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico about 300BCE. They farmed the land and mined a stone called obsidian into knives and tools. By about 100CE, Teotihuacan developed into a commercial city, with sculptors, painters and potters.

6. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
People first settled along the banks of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico about 300BCE. They farmed the land and mined a stone called obsidian into knives and tools. By about 100CE, Teotihuacan developed into a commercial city, with sculptors, painters and potters.

7. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
People first settled along the banks of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico about 300BCE. They farmed the land and mined a stone called obsidian into knives and tools. By about 100CE, Teotihuacan developed into a commercial city, with sculptors, painters and potters.

8. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Two enormous structures, later called the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, dominated Teotihuacan along the Avenue of the Dead. These names reflect the religious beliefs of the Aztecs, who occupied the region centuries later. We don’t know what the people called the pyramids or the road when they were constructed.

9. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Two enormous structures, later called the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, dominated Teotihuacan along the Avenue of the Dead. These names reflect the religious beliefs of the Aztecs, who occupied the region centuries later. We don’t know what the people called the pyramids or the road when they were constructed.

10. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Two enormous structures, later called the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, dominated Teotihuacan along the Avenue of the Dead. These names reflect the religious beliefs of the Aztecs, who occupied the region centuries later. We don’t know what the people called the pyramids or the road when they were constructed.

11. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Reaching a height of over two hundred feet, the Pyramid of the Sun is the third largest pyramid in the world. It was constructed about 100CE and expanded about 150 years later.

12. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Reaching a height of over two hundred feet, the Pyramid of the Sun is the third largest pyramid in the world. It was constructed about 100CE and expanded about 150 years later.

13. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Beneath the base of the pyramid, excavators found a 400-pound statue of Huehueteotl, a fire god associated with wisdom. The pyramid was originally constructed over a deep cave. Scholars think the cave may be a symbolic link to the ancient civilization’s belief in the underworld, where they believed their gods and ancestors lived.

14. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Beneath the base of the pyramid, excavators found a 400-pound statue of Huehueteotl, a fire god associated with wisdom. The pyramid was originally constructed over a deep cave. Scholars think the cave may be a symbolic link to the ancient civilization’s belief in the underworld, where they believed their gods and ancestors lived.

15. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Beneath the base of the pyramid, excavators found a 400-pound statue of Huehueteotl, a fire god associated with wisdom. The pyramid was originally constructed over a deep cave. Scholars think the cave may be a symbolic link to the ancient civilization’s belief in the underworld, where they believed their gods and ancestors lived.

16. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
The Pyramid of the Moon is the burial place of one of the city’s rulers. Smaller than its sister pyramid; it is also the resting place of people and animals that were sacrificed. Most of the walls of the pyramids we might see today are recreations. In the 1880s, excavators used dynamite to explore the pyramids, causing tremendous damage.

17. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
The Pyramid of the Moon is the burial place of one of the city’s rulers. Smaller than its sister pyramid; it is also the resting place of people and animals that were sacrificed. Most of the walls of the pyramids we might see today are recreations. In the 1880s, excavators used dynamite to explore the pyramids, causing tremendous damage.

18. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
The Pyramid of the Moon is the burial place of one of the city’s rulers. Smaller than its sister pyramid; it is also the resting place of people and animals that were sacrificed. Most of the walls of the pyramids we might see today are recreations. In the 1880s, excavators used dynamite to explore the pyramids, causing tremendous damage.

19. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
The Pyramid of the Moon is the burial place of one of the city’s rulers. Smaller than its sister pyramid; it is also the resting place of people and animals that were sacrificed. Most of the walls of the pyramids we might see today are recreations. In the 1880s, excavators used dynamite to explore the pyramids, causing tremendous damage.

20. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
The Avenue of the Dead was Teotihuacan’s main thoroughfare. Smaller temples and homes for the ruling elite of the city lined the boulevard. A grid system of streets radiated from the avenue, creating the first urban infrastructure in the New World and access to housing for Teotihuacan’s workers.

21. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
The Avenue of the Dead was Teotihuacan’s main thoroughfare. Smaller temples and homes for the ruling elite of the city lined the boulevard. A grid system of streets radiated from the avenue, creating the first urban infrastructure in the New World and access to housing for Teotihuacan’s workers.

22. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
The Avenue of the Dead was Teotihuacan’s main thoroughfare. Smaller temples and homes for the ruling elite of the city lined the boulevard. A grid system of streets radiated from the avenue, creating the first urban infrastructure in the New World and access to housing for Teotihuacan’s workers.

23. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
About 250, the city stopped building pyramids and turned their attention to constructing apartment complexes. Excavators have found over apartment compounds, each housing between fifty and one hundred people. Most apartments were comfortable homes for tradespeople.

24. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
About 250, the city stopped building pyramids and turned their attention to constructing apartment complexes. Excavators have found over apartment compounds, each housing between fifty and one hundred people. Most apartments were comfortable homes for tradespeople.

25. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
About 250, the city stopped building pyramids and turned their attention to constructing apartment complexes. Excavators have found over apartment compounds, each housing between fifty and one hundred people. Most apartments were comfortable homes for tradespeople.

26. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Teotihuacan slowly began to decline in influence in the mid-400s. About 650, it was mysteriously abandoned and burned. Perhaps Teotihuacan was invaded, or its citizens may have faced a natural disaster such as an earthquake or a drought.

27. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Teotihuacan slowly began to decline in influence in the mid-400s. About 650, it was mysteriously abandoned and burned. Perhaps Teotihuacan was invaded, or its citizens may have faced a natural disaster such as an earthquake or a drought.

28. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Teotihuacan slowly began to decline in influence in the mid-400s. About 650, it was mysteriously abandoned and burned. Perhaps Teotihuacan was invaded, or its citizens may have faced a natural disaster such as an earthquake or a drought.

29. Teotihuacan America Before Columbus
Centuries later, the Aztecs settled along the lake and were so impressed by its pyramids that they named the area Teotihuacan, or “city of the gods.”

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Music credit:
Undiscovered Creature by Dan O’Connor
(DanoSongs.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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